The Be-cause health and IDDO Medicines Quality teams will be addressing the issue of poor quality medicines at the European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health.

The production and distribution of medicines has become a global trade, and yet the market is characterised by multiple standards and a variety of regulatory systems worldwide. This puts all of us at risk of receiving poor quality medicines, and is particularly problematic for patients in low- and middle-income countries where poor quality medicines are disproportionately present.

Dr. Raffaella Ravinetto, senior researcher at the ITM Department of Public Health and chair of the Be-cause health Medicines Working Group, said: “Despite an increasing awareness of the problem of poor quality medicines, the divide in pharmaceutical quality between the North and the South remains insufficiently addressed. We need to advocate for universal access to quality-assured medicines, and encourage cooperation between all involved parties - clinicians, regulators, international organizations, journalists, purchasers, prescribers, programme managers, policy makers, public health actors, communications specialists, and the patients.”

Prof. Paul Newton, Head of the IDDO Medicine Quality Group, added: “We hope that the discussion at ECTMIH will encourage people to debate solutions for this significant problem. Those who attend the symposium will have the opportunity to hear from highly qualified speakers from diverse sectors including public health research, analytical laboratories, regulatory authorities, and the WHO Prequalification Team.”

Medicine quality issues will be addressed in a variety of ECTMIH sessions, including a symposium organised by Be-cause healthand IDDO, chaired by professor Hans Hogerzeil, as well as a session on ‘Drugs, Diagnostics & Supplies’, chaired byDeus Mubangizi of the WHO Prequalification Team, and Raffaella Ravinetto.

How the quality strategy can tackle the challenges of procuring medicines in weak regulatory environments: The experience of a sub-Saharan African Procurement Centre
Singh Lotay P., De Santi O., Ravinetto R.